strength

STRENGKTH/stɹɛŋkθ/UKSTRENGTH/stɹɛŋ(k)θ/

Pluralstrengths (some meanings)

8 meanings of strength

1
toughnessnoununcountable
The quality or degree of being strong, whether in body, character, or material.
After months of recovery, his strength slowly returned.
Engineers tested the bridge for the strength of its steel cables.
UsageOften the strength to + verb: find the strength to go on. You build up or regain your strength.
Similarpower, might, vigor, toughness, sturdiness
Oppositeweakness
Note
The English word covers body, character and material alike. Shakespeare's Macbeth boasts that his castle's strength will laugh a siege to scorn, the solidity of stone walls standing in for the power of the man inside.
2
intensitynoununcountable
The intensity of a force, power, or effect; its potency.
Chemists checked the strength of the acid before the experiment began.
The strength of the signal dropped as we drove into the mountains.
Similarintensity, potency, power, force, concentration
Oppositeweakness, faintness
3
nouncountable
A good or valuable quality or part that a person or thing has; the strongest feature of something, or a person or thing that gives support and can be relied on.
Her main strength is staying calm under pressure.
The team's strengths lie in creativity and quick thinking.
UsageOften in strengths and weaknesses, one of your greatest strengths, and play to your strengths (use what you do best).
Similarasset, forte, advantage
Oppositeweakness, shortcoming, flaw
4
noununcountable
The size of a group, team, army or workforce counted in people, particularly the complete number required.
With three nurses out sick, the ward is running well below strength.
By spring the regiment had a strength of about eight hundred men.
Similarcomplement
Note
Headcount is often measured against a target, and prepositional phrases carry that comparison: at full strength, back to full strength, below strength, up to strength. It also stands as a plain count, as in a strength of eight hundred men. Sports reporting uses it for injuries and suspensions, hospitals and armies for staffing. It sits close to the body of troops, but here strength is a number, not the force itself.

Less common meanings

5
armynounobsoletecountable
A military force, or an organized body of soldiers.
That done, dissever your united strengths, And part your mingled colours once again;
c. 1596, William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”
Thou princely leader of our English strength, Never so needful on the earth of France,
1591, William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”
Note
Shakespeare's histories use it for an army as a whole. The First Part of Henry VI has a "princely leader of our English strength," and King John has "dissever your united strengths," where the plural means separate forces joined together.
6
nounobsoletecountable
A strongly defended place; a stronghold.
Note
Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) gives the grandest instance: heaven itself, "this inaccessible high strength, the seat / Of Deitie supream." The noun shifts from a quality to a place that possesses it, much as stronghold does.
7
verbobsolete
To make something or someone stronger; to reinforce.
ſtrengthed with all myght / thꝛowe hys gloꝛious power / vnto all pacience / and longe ſufferynge with ioyfulnes
1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt (Tyndale Bible)
Then ſhalt thow perceave what it meaneth that the power of this wretched monſtre / muſt be ſtrengthed / by anothers power and not by his awne.
1529, John Frith, A piſtle to the Chriſten reader
Similarstrengthen, reinforce, fortify, invigorate, brace
Note
A verb formed directly from the noun and conjugated regularly: strengths, strengthing, strengthed. Tyndale's New Testament of 1526 has believers "strengthed with all might," and Edward Hall's chronicle has a document "strengthed with the seal," meaning made binding.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
The verb derives from the noun strength. en.wiktionary.org
The verb has the regular forms strengths, strengthing and strengthed. en.wiktionary.org
Tyndale's complete New Testament was first printed in 1526. tyndale.org
Tyndale's New Testament describes believers as 'strengthed with all might' in Colossians 1:11. gutenberg.org
Edward Hall's chronicle contains the quoted expression about authenticating a document with a seal; the item's spelling is modernized. en.wiktionary.org
In the document example, the verb means to validate or make binding. en.wiktionary.org
8
noun
The smallest ratio, over all ways of cutting a graph, of edges removed to the number of extra components the cut produces.

Practice

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Origin

From Middle English strengthe, from Old English strengþu ("strength"), going back to Proto-West Germanic *strangiþu. It is essentially "strong" plus "-th", an ending that forms abstract nouns, and is related to Dutch strengte ("strength").

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

English strength descends from Middle English strengthe. en.wiktionary.org
Middle English strengthe descends from Old English strengþu, meaning strength. en.wiktionary.org
The Old English noun descends from reconstructed Proto-West Germanic *strangiþu. en.wiktionary.org
Strength is etymologically equivalent to strong plus the abstract noun suffix -th. en.wiktionary.org
Strength is cognate with Dutch strengte, meaning strength. en.wiktionary.org